The Everlasting Heartbeat
by Brightblueable
Summary: A story about Magnus Bane and Alec's relationship set after City Of Lost Souls. It may also develop into other stories that include the rest of the characters but at the moment I'm focusing on Magnus and Alec.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is about Magnus Bane. I'm sorry this first bit isn't very long but it takes me ages to write things, however I am hoping to get faster as I carry on with my writing on here. I am also new to fanfiction so please bear this in mind when reading my story. I hope you like it!**

Outside a club in the middle of New York city stood a warlock. He held a delicately curved wine glass with patterns embedded in its skin and held his other lighted palm to it, watching as within the glass appeared lines, going out from the centre and slowly reached the air. The shards fell onto the ground silently and the warlock let out a sigh, reached into his pocket for a tissue, and bent down to collect the shards within it. He closed them in his fist and walked away from the club, his feet not making a sound on the pavement, his head down, hair falling into his eyes for once. He couldn't look up yet the path was the only direction for him, and he couldn't look for it. Not facing the future was not an option for him; his future was timeless. And thinking of the past made him feel awful.  
A noise behind the warlock made him turn and he saw a teenage boy coming out of a shop holding a carrier bag heavy with milk bottles and coffee. The boy was talking on the phone saying something about how he'd be back soon, he was just five minutes away. The person on the other end of the phone replied and the boy smiled warmly, "Yeah we can chat until I get back." The warlock listened to the flow of the conversation until it was comforting rhythm.  
It was only when the boy walked past casting a weird glance at him that Magnus realized he'd stopped walking in the middle of the pavement. He walked to the side dejectedly and sunk down against a store window. Moonlight made its way down into his eyes for the first time since dark as he gazed up with water speckled on his cheeks like freckles, and he slept there that night with the moon wrapped around him, and the stars catching his dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

Alec Lightwood was on his way to Magnus's. The pain of the last five weeks without seeing Magnus had got to him and he had ended up bursting into

tears when Isabelle had finally asked him what was going on between him and Magnus. He had told her everything. Camille, and everything. "I'm a bad

person, I wish I could just go and rot in hell," Alec had said, finally looking up at Isabelle, expecting to see her backing away from him, her face contorted

with disgust. However she was just looking at him as if he was the same person she'd always known.

Isabelle, who had been listening with her arms folded, sighed and said, "By the angel Alec, you're just human. Everybody messes up. And then they try

and make things right again."

"How do I make things alright though? How do I make him love me again? Magnus has probably moved on.."

Isabelle frowned, "Actually I think he's in just as much heartache as you are; Simon found him sleeping on the street near the Pandemonium Club, he

looked like he'd just collapsed there. Anyway Simon called me and then we took him home and left a note on his bedside table," She shrugged. Alec

stared into the distance as she carried on talking imagining how cold Magnus must have been just left there on the side of the street and how if he'd

been there he would have carried Magnus home, put him to bed with a hot water bottle and then when Magnus woke up he'd be ready with two slices of

toast and tea with one spoonful of sugar.

He would have erased Magnus' pain if he hadn't been the one to start it in the first place as those kind of gestures would just cause more pain.

"Alec, are you even listening?" Isabelle was looking at him with her eyebrows raised. "I was telling you that you should just go over to Magnus's and

apologize. It doesn't seem like much but if you just say things right then you might have a chance."

"What should I say?"

"Stuff like 'Oh I'm sorry Magnus, I've been such a dickhead, I don't even know which ways up anymore.'" Isabelle took on the tone of mimicking. Her

expression softened when she saw Alec's face. "Don't worry you can do this," she said smiling warmly at him, "it's quite possible apologizing is one of your

hidden talents." And with that she had walked off saying she had to meet Jace and wishing him good luck.

* * *

And now here he was walking up Magnus's street wondering, nervously what was going to happen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this has taken so long to put up - I've been on holiday and have then been at school and revising! Anyway this chapter is also from Alec's perspective and I know its all no speech and nothing really happens but I wanted to go into depth with Alec to show how he's been changed by his break up with Magnus. I promise that in the next chapter more stuff will happen!**

Words were astoundingly hard to think of when you needed them Alec realized. He couldn't describe the way he was feeling; nobody could understand how the wrong, guilty feeling gripped his hands and breathed up through his throat. He knew that what he had done to Magnus was atrocious and he couldn't right the wrong he had done. Alec knew that they would never hold each other again, never start and end the days together – like cycle Magnus had once said. Alec wanted to end things on better terms so that there would be some sort of closure and Magnus could move on, even if he himself couldn't.  
Halfway to Magnus' Alec had realized that he had left all his Shadowhunter gear at the institute and all of his runes were covered; he looked just like a mundane. All those runes he'd wondered. If he let them fade he would be almost a mundane, and could go out and have fun, meet new people without always having to look over his shoulder. If he was a mundane all the people he loved would be _safe_. But as Alec had looked around the streets of New York he had seen a girl sitting on a bench crying. Not in the loud, frustrated, blotchy way people sometimes cried - when it was something that wasn't all that bad in reality – but in the sad, weighted way, when you can see that more tears fall inside the heart than is possible to be let out. Alec had always thought that mundanes had an easy life but no, they had to go through heartbreak too.  
The street unfolded before him as he walked, like a dense jungle path where you have to push the leaves out of the way to see ahead. The apartments stood before him as they always had, with litterbins on the pavement and patches of grass in front of them – some with a bench or a few garden ornaments.  
A bundle of lives had made home on this street, one of which belonged to Magnus.  
Alec had always wondered what it would be like to live in a house having lived in a place run by the clave all his life. It must be nice he had decided, to live in a place that you could call your own and was yours to do what you liked with – yours to keep.  
Recently he had started thinking of it differently. Where you lived was just somewhere you happened to be – where your home was was with the people who you loved.  
Now Alec was standing in front of Magnus' house. All brick and faded red with steps leading down from it. Alec gazed at it – was he in there?  
A collective breath moved his shoulders up, and then down, and moved each foot just steadily up every step. Now he was at the same height as the base of Magnus' house, only two feet away from the door.  
The ends of his fingers knew the soft smooth metal they pressed, and a buzzer sounded through the house.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello?" Magnus' voice came from the receiver. "Who dares disturb the High Warlock of Brooklyn?" His usual vigour when he asked that question wasn't there.

Alec took a deep breath, cleared his throat which had suddenly become all tight, and then responded, "Magnus? It's Alec. Can I see you? I've erm, I've come to apologize."

A long pause followed. "Have you," Magnus said quietly. Alec didn't answer; Magnus could make up his own mind on that one.

"Hmmm," Magnus sighed. "Yes, you can come in. The door was open anyway."

Alec pushed the door open and with his heart pounding in his ears, went up the stairs to Magnus' apartment. The door was already open so Alec just walked in, taking in the place with a heavy heart. Takeaways littered the floor and clothes were strewn everywhere; jeans, t-shirts, leopard print pyjamas and boxer shorts. Magnus himself sat on the sofa strewn at the edge of the room. Alec's breath caught in his throat as he stared at Magnus. He was leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees, his hands placed together in front of him, his hair a scruffy mess with bits sticking up at the back in little clusters. And Magnus was watching him with tired, tired eyes. Pain was concentrated within them and Alec bit his lip and wouldn't allow himself to look away.

Magnus spoke. "Alec-"

"I just came to tell you that I'm sorry," the words spilled out of Alec's mouth and he silently cursed.

Magnus sat up with suddenly blazing eyes. "_Why?_ Why _bother_ Alec?"

Alec drew a breath but didn't allow himself to be intimidated. "Because I feel it's the right thing to do."

Magnus quietened his expression stilling as he took in Alec. Alec sighed and walked over to Magnus, "I suppose you don't believe me now."

Magnus ran a hand through his hair and looked up at Alec. "I don't even know what to think," he said sadly. "I don't get it Alec, you seem such a good person and yet it clashes with what you did. Why did you do it? Why did you try to make me mortal?"

Sitting down quietly on the sofa Alec considered. "I've always imagined myself and however I love growing old together and yet that cannot happen with you."

"But that's only part of it," Magnus guessed.

"Yes," Alec nodded. "I felt intimidated by you. You've lived so long and gained so much experience and lived through so much and you've survived in one piece, physically and mentally. I, well, I've never been sure that I would survive being a Shadowhunter and I've always felt unstable within myself. I've always admired very strongly anyone that can live through so much and still be good," Alec smiled tentatively at Magnus. "So I admired you a lot. Too much really. Standing next to you, you made me feel," he looked down at his feet suddenly embarrassed. "Worthless," he finished.

Magnus looked appalled, "Alec I never meant for you to feel like that!"he sat forward as if to grasp Alec's hand but a look over realisation flashed across his face and he slumped back into the sofa dejectedly. "Oh no," he muttered. "And I've not been telling you my secrets."

"What?" Alec said, confused. "Magnus?"

Magnus reached forward and took his hand. "Alec," his hands gripped Alec's right hand. "There's something you need to know. I am not as perfect as you think I am. I'm sorry I didn't tell you my secrets earlier but I didn't want you to know them as I am ashamed of them, but now I realize that I need to tell you, and it was wrong that it was my intent to be a perfect image for you, as it is not the truth and could have destroyed this relationship."

His hands were slightly smooth around the palm and his long fingers spread across the top of Alec's hand. "I'm sorry, Alec," he breathed.  
Alec sighed and dropped his gaze. This would be the last time Magnus touched him.

The sunlight played across Magnus' right hand as he moved it up to touch Alec's cheek. "I don't make you feel worthless now do I?"  
Alec breathed in and out.  
"No," he said slowly, his eyes returning to Magnus's face. "No, you don't," Alec said with determination as Magnus paused, his mouth partly open. "The first week after I nearly beat myself black and blue with guilt, but now, I feel like there are more important things than growing old together with the people you love. I really hurt you and originally all I could think of was myself and how much of a bad person I was for hurting you, but then I started to imagine you with other people and you being happy with that person and I realized that a life isn't about only loving one person throughout your entire life, it's about the amount of love shared within that life. And I realized that well; if I was to end things with you properly and tell you to move on then you might stand a chance of finding love again."

Magnus looked stunned. "What?" he said quietly.

"You can move on now." Alec's eyes were a steady blue that held Magnus's and wished them well in a message sent from the heart.

Magnus gazed back and then he smiled, and breathed, "Yes."

"Huh?" Alec said and then, "Oh." He stood up quickly breaking hands with Magnus. "Well," he said trying not to be awkward. "I…I guess I better go then." He strode towards the door, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"What?!" came a cry from the couch. "No, Alec!" Magnus scrambled up and ran the full length of the apartment to come skidding to a halt in front of Alec. "Wait," He said breathlessly, putting his hands up to stop Alec.

"No," he said. "I meant 'Yes I've moved on'." Alec cast him a shocked look.

"Not that kind of moved on," Magnus said waving a hand to the side. "I meant I've moved on from the hurt," he said.

"What hurt?" Alec asked stupidly. He couldn't keep track of events and was wondering what on earth Magnus was doing, shouldn't he want to let him walk away?

"The hurt," Magnus gestured wildly. He seemed to be having trouble finding words.  
"That you did to me, I've-" He grinned at Alec, "I've forgiven you, you duffess! You, Alec Lightwood you're a good man and I," his voice dropped with intensity and his eyes shone. "I love you."

A glorious warmth spread through Alec like birds on flight within the land they called home and they told him of the future within the blue skies and how this moment here, this moment was truly good and mattered like the sun mattered to the whole world.  
And the words, comments and sentences gathered but Alec rejected them and he flung himself at Magnus wrapping him in a giant hug. Magnus made a noise of surprise which transformed into one of protest.

"Hey," he said. "Lover boy, let me get my arms out." Alec loosened his grip slightly and Magnus pulled his arms out so that he could hug Alec back.

"So," Magnus said. "Does this mean we're back together again?"

"Yes."

Magnus smiled.

"Magnus?" Alec inquired his voice slightly muffled against his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"God I've been waiting ages to hear you say that," Magnus remarked. Alec punched him lightly on the shoulder and Magnus laughed and then bent down to kiss Alec.


End file.
